History: Out of Order
by Anaxn
Summary: While it is true history may repeat itself, it may not always happen the way people expect it to. Take the example of Team 7. Everyone expected them to follow their teachers', the Three Sannin, example. But the way they did it was....out of order.
1. Naruto Uzumaki

History: Out Of Order

Naruto Uzumaki, the Seventh Hokage, gave a loud despairing sigh as he dropped his head on his desk, exhausted. All this damn paper work was going to give him a head ache! He thought despairingly as he picked up the Hokage's hat from where it fell on the floor. Ramen didn't taste as good with a head ache. Shuffling several papers into a new stack, the blond gave another heavy sigh. The door to his office opened tentatively and Hinata's head leaned in shyly.  
"N-Naruto, are you alright? I heard a crash…" She murmured, opening the door a bit more to let her stand in the door way. She wore traditional Hyuuga robes embroidered with beautiful blue silk butterflies over it, something he had insisted on. Naruto smiled appreciatively at her.  
"Naw, everything's fine, Hinata! Just bored out of my mind with these stupid papers." He emphasized this by dropping one of the stacks on the desk, making a loud thump. Hinata nodded, giving him a gentle little smile.  
"Alright then." Naruto smiled as the door slid shut. Hinata always meant well, and this leant itself to being the Hokage's wife. She had become the village's caretaker, as well as Naruto's. The blond sighed again, getting up from his seat and standing by the window. The Hokage monument stood high and proud outside the frame, sun still shining on its faces. Tsunade had long been carved on the mountain, her face appropriately next to the Fourth's. His own near finished portrait was smiling slightly next to hers, looking out across his village. Naruto shook his head. Something wasn't right. He contemplated this feeling for a while before realizing what it was that wasn't right. His teammates weren't here. The Hokage nearly gave into laughter then, the sort of unhealthy choking laughter that you make after crying. Of course his teammates weren't here; they had taken after their predecessors, the infamous Three Sannin, and broken up before they were even seventeen. The thought of his team made him nostalgic and sorrowful. It hurt just to think of them, especially since Kakashi died. The Hokage moved away from the window, sitting again at his desk.

"Something wrong, Hokage?" A voice came from nowhere and an ANBU agent appeared in front of his desk, wearing a green fox-like face. Naruto almost gave a grin as he thought of the ninja's first mask, a serpent mask given to him by the other ANBU. He had rejected it so violently that Naruto had to step in before he grievously injured them.  
"Nothing Kabuto. Just thinking." The ninja swung his mask to the side, showing the double agent's older face. Salt and pepper stubble made the rough outline of a beard on the 40 year old's face, which seemed worn by age. Spying and being persecuted by his own people had given him a slightly tired look that was usually only banished by his family, his wife Shizune, and difficult missions.  
"Come now, Naruto. I can tell there's something wrong with you. I don't have these eyes for nothing." The ANBU gestured to his eyes, which dropped their usual black cover to reveal their natural Hyuuga-lavender color. The sight made the town leader smile. Kabuto never let his eyes go except on missions or diplomatic meetings. The double agent had deception so deeply ingrained in his veins that he held onto this little fabrication even after his reveal by Tsunade. He claimed it felt comfortable, but Naruto knew otherwise.

"Just reminiscing. Sasuke and Sakura, you know? What's the most recent news on them?" The Hokage slid limply down into his chair and Kabuto resealed his eyes with a complicated jutsu.  
"Nothing new on Sakura. But Sasuke is said to have been seen in one of the northern villages." Naruto Uzumaki frowned.  
"Are we sure it's him?"  
"The description fits. Black haired man with a heavy blue kimono, carrying a laden pack. Sounds like him." The blond looked out the window, watching as a cloud covered the sun. The Hokage's room darkened as its occupants stared out the window at the world.  
"I wonder what he's doing."


	2. Sasuke Uchiha

History: Out Of Order  
Part 2

The sweet summer wind swept across the land, leaping up and down over hills and eventually dove down into the small town below. The lone ninja on the hill held his black bangs from his matching onyx eyes, watching the city below. Naruto's spies had only taken three days to track him down this time, Sasuke thought, barely enough to fetch his supplies and relax for a small time. The shinobi stood, hefting his pack. This game of hide and seek was becoming vexing. Didn't Naruto know he simply wanted to be alone? Surely Konoha's finest had something better to do than keep tabs on one of the Hokage's ex-teammates? Like keep tabs on Sakura, for example. Giving a disgruntled growl, the blue-garbed ninja set off towards the east. He had just wanted some time alone at first time to sort out what had happened to the village while he had gone. But time stretched to months, and when Konoha agents had caught up with him and questioned what he wanted, he knew what he was going to answer. Tsunade had been Hokage then, the Uchiha thought as he entered the patched shade of the trees. She was more sympathetic than most when he returned to Konoha and he was grateful for this. But Sakura.... Snorting gruffly, Sasuke lengthened his stride through the underbrush. Now that Sakura was gone, Sasuke didn't have any reason to go back. He was a wandering ninja now; he still owed alliance to Konoha, but there was no reason to stay in a village where people distrusted him automatically. But Naruto just couldn't leave him alone. The ninja trudged up the next hill, leaning heavily on the traveler's staff he had created. He didn't particularly want to talk to the Hokage. Not that he wouldn't mind having to, but it was something he would avoid if possible. There was simply nothing he wanted to say. Reaching the top of the hill, Sasuke looked down on the town he had left and suddenly felt very tired. It wasn't that he had traveled very far, but the weight in his mind suddenly seemed like a wet sandbag over his head. The feeling was strange, but he felt as though he had known it before. He wondered what it was as he stared down at the village until he realized what he was feeling. It was loneliness. The man was startled. He knew he was alone, but he never thought he would be lonely. He had always though he would be able to return to Sakura.... He cut this thought off with an angry bite to his thumb. Performing the Kuchiyose hand seals with more vehemence than usual, the Uchiha dropped like a stone as he slammed his hands into the ground. A large puff of smoke and one of his serpents lifted its alabaster head from its coils.  
"Come on, Orochimaru." He muttered, letting the snake named for his master twine up his arm and gently circle his neck and shoulder. "Let's get out of here."


	3. Sakura

History: Out Of Order  
Part 3

One of the candles by the door guttered, battered by an unfelt wind, and noticing this, the room's occupant quietly said,  
"Come in." There was a nervous noise on the other side of the stone door and a cautious Sound nin entered the candlelit lair.  
"Lady Sakura, there's a messenger for you topside."  
"One of our own?" Came the smooth detached voice and the touch of frost in it made the ninja shiver.  
"Yes mam."  
"Good....." The voice hissed, sending another chill through the poor man. "You may leave." The Sound nin gratefully bolted out the door, barely remembering to close the heavy door after him. Sakura, Leader of Sound Country, stood up from her stone carved snake chair. Putting away the unfinished scroll painting of her father Orochimaru, she blew out many of the candles in her workroom and stepped out into the hall. The halls were the only spaces with adequate lamp lighting and one of the first projects she had taken on when she became ruler. Rooms still needed some kind of lighting besides candles but there was no money for that project now. She turned left down the stone tunnel, curving slowly towards the surface world. Her chambers were the farthest and deepest down, her bedroom and washroom still deeper down the tunnel. She had gotten used to her stone bedroom many years ago, back when she was still struggling to learn Tsuande's teachings. Sakura's snake-like eyes narrowed, their purple rims creating an even sharper point at her nose. Her betrayal of her teacher reduced itself to a sad little ache buried deep within her heart. Many things had been buried in that deep hole called her heart since she became the Ruler of Sound Country. Things like most of her volatile emotions. Things like the entire section of her life spanning from age 7 to age 13. Things like her previous love and adoration for Sasuke Uchiha, the man who killed her father. But some things could not be buried, however much she wished them to. Her nails began gnawing at her skin's pale palms and she ignored the pain as the scars on that very deep hole came to mind. Several small lines for every time she cried alone in Konoha. One very simple thick line, like a stab wound, for when her father died. And one torturous looking scab for when Kabuto, her older brother, betrayed and tried to kill her.

It was at that moment her feet brought her to the end of the tunnel, huge doors open to the rotting smell of the forest. The nervous Sound nin who had come to her room was standing next to another ninja, who seemed very weary. He wore no identifying marks, no headband or special weaponry. He was definitely the one she sent out. They both knelt.  
"Sakura-sama." She nodded and the shinobi stood up.  
"There is a team of Konoha ANBU approaching our border. They appear to have returned from a mission in the Waterfall village and have already criss-crossed the border several times."  
"And they are within our borders now?" She asked impatiently, simply itching to take out her frustration on something.  
"Yes mam." Replied the scout.  
"What are you going to do, Lady Sakura?" The second ninja asked timidly. "Will you hunt them down too?" At this, Sakura nearly gave the poor shinobi her father's snake-like smile, simply to watch him squirm. She suppressed her nasty impulses, telling herself to save it for the Konoha ANBU.  
"No. I will not 'hunt them down'. I'm going to kill them. No Konoha ninja shall ever step upon my country's land with paying for it with his life. That is my edict, as Ruler of Sound Country."


End file.
